Help needed with Tesco car insurance

[AY1000]

I have just had a car written off and Tesco have valued the car at £600 but they have taken out about £540 to be paid towards the rest of the year or for me to continue with the policy without the car been present. Furthermore they have taken from my account nearly £200 towards paying the cover till next year. So in all my car is been written off for £600 but they have taken £740 for the policy and I am in the red for £140.

Policy = 740 regards of car or not
Value for car = 600

Total Loss to me = £140

When I spoke to Tesco they are saying I could buy another car and STILL carryon with the policy regardless untill next year. Is this right?

I have asked for confirmation of this and wish to complain or take a legal action. Can legal action be justified?

[craigwalton]

You should be able to add another car on to the policy. However, they could charge an Additional Premium. If you are unable to get a car immediately, it might be best trying to pay the claim off, withdrawing the claim (and not losing any no claims bonus) and not pay the premiums.

[Rob S]

Are you happy with their valuation? If not, then you can dispute it. I presume some of the money they have deducted is the policy excess?

[claims32]

TEsco are a nightmere. I have just issued against them on behalf of a friend. He lost control of his car and hit a tree. They have refused to pay out??

[AY1000]

Thanks everyone

But no I have not got any accesd at all, mine is £0. Furthermore I have no other car so they are telling me to keep the policy for the rest of year, regardless of my situation (carless or not). What can I do to get my unused premium?

[craigwalton]

This is what I would do. Ask them to withdraw the claim, and cancel the policy from the earliest available opportunity.

You have said that your insurance renewal is next year. This means that you will get a proportion of the premiums back.

You will get nothing for the car, and as the Policy is cancelled mid term you will get no extra NCD, however, I think that this will be the best for you. Before they do this, ask them how much you are going to get this way to make sure it is the best for you (but it cannot be worse than the -£140 you are in at the moment.)

Also you mentioned that they have taken extra money out of your account - I trust this is by DD. Were you informed more than 14 days in advance that they were taking an extra payment - if not get onto your bank, as they have broken the terms of the DD guarantee, and the bank should refund you the money for the extra payment.

Let me know how you get on

[Trojan1401]

AY1000

Have been reading this thread & trying to get my head round what Tesco have done.

Your car was written off - was a third party involved & if so who was deemed at fault.

If no other person involved & you wrote the car off, the insurer would offer you the market value of the vehicle less the excess. Did the make an offer & did you accept ?

It is a while since I dealt with personal lines insurance ( commercial now ) but in the event an offer is accepted then providing to finance on a write off then the insurer should pay direct to you irrespective whether you are paying by instalments or not. However if a claim is made against the policy, the full annual premium is payable however you can/should be able to add another vehicle.

Unless there is something in the policy wording that states that any AD payment made to you will be used to offset any outstanding instalments, the action they have therefore taken is incorrect.

If you provide further detail of the policy and circumstances of the claim, I may be able to assist further.

Ironically Tesco is Underwritten by UK Insurance who have many schemes & are ultilmately owned by one of our friendly banks - RBS !!

[AY1000]

[quote=Gary P]AY1000

Hi Gary

The policy can be seen in

Car insurance: Policy documents - Tesco Personal Finance

and it appears if a claim is made on the account then this is taken into account and I have been offered only £57 in cheque and whilst I have lost my car value for the premium.

a- I have bought the policy for about £750 (£62 a month)
b- I have made a claim for my car
c- was written off and valued at £600
d- I was given £57 whilst losing the entire additonal £140
e- So I have lost about £100 from the deal but apparently must keep the policy running or cancel at no refund.

I am confused with the hold thing.

[Trojan1401]

thare appears to be nothing in the policy that states they will offset any value against the instalment agreement. Albeit, if a claim is made against the policy you must pay it in full by the agreed method. If you had your £600+ from them you may get another vehicle and add it to the policy.

I would write & complain as the do appear to have withheld your money to offset an agreement.

It's worth a try.

[demon_x_slash]

Tesco are a nightmare. My OH's car was written off by a woman pulling out right in front of him. This was September last year, and it's still ongoing. She admitted fault at the scene but later changed her story (she's also changed her statement several times and lied, speculated, insinuated and exaggerated). Tesco assigned us the laziest bunch of solicitors known to man, who, after dragging their heels for nine months making us do all the work (no advice over statements, pictures, damage, never answering the phone or always being 'in a meeting', screwing up the engineer inspection, telling us to get rid of the car when it was still needed...) are now recommending we accept 50/50 liability. This'll obliterate OH's no claims bonus, bringing the insurance up by £300pa.
OH got on the phone to Tesco Insurance 'Customer Service' today and was spoken to extremely rudely, dismissed out of hand and told he could complain 'if he could be bothered'.
I hate supermarket insurers. Especially Tesco.